Pink Floyd is still known today for their amazing concept albums, and The Wall is considered one of the best ever created. Because it was mostly penned by Roger Waters and it personally meant a lot to him, he received full rights to the album after the messy break up. He decided to make a film around the auto-biographical album.
The Wall tells a dark story of a boy growing into a man while constructing a wall around him, blocking him off from society and the world. It contains some of Pink Floyd’s most famous songs, such as Comfortably Numb and Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2, but it also holds a deep message that is most apparent in the final words on the album (in the song Outside the Wall):
All alone, or in two’s, The ones who really love you Walk up and down outside the wall. Some hand in hand And some gathered together in bands. The bleeding hearts and artists Make their stand.
And when they’ve given you their all Some stagger and fall, after all it’s not easy Banging your heart against some mad bugger’s wall.
The movie does a good job at portraying the metaphorical concept of the wall through its main character, Pink, who is meant to represent a version of Waters himself. His childhood is scarring due to his overprotective mother and mean teachers, and this leads to a series of problems for the matured Pink, who has found himself in the midst of fame and rock and roll. His ‘wall’ has been building his whole life, and when his wife leaves him, he finishes the wall and removes himself from the rest of the world.
Comfortably Numb is shown below. By this stage in the movie, Pink’s wall has been built and he sees no point in trying to escape from it.
This movie is not for everyone, as the concepts can be explained in a way that seems weird and sometimes disturbingly. But it is a very smart movie, with endless symbolism and great use of Pink Floyd’s songs to tell the story of a man’s life. If you’re a Pink Floyd fan, it’s a must watch. It turns one of their finest works into a visual story that brings more life and meaning to their already powerful songs.
Pink Floyd was a band that all together changed music and how it was perceived. Being the first band to really explore progressive rock, they used a variety of new instruments, techniques and sound in their unforgettable music. Roger Waters’ lyrics and David Gilmour’s guitar drove the band forward for years after the death of the bands original founder, Syd Barrett. Albums like The Wall, Dark Side of the Moon, and Wish You Were Here created new music and inspired many, and are still highly regarded and listened to today.
Pink Floyd stands as my second favorite band behind the Beatles, and the number of great songs they have is uncountable. Listed below are some of their best songs. While there is no way to ever make a defined top ten due to the varied opinions and tastes of every listener, this list undoubtedly holds some of their greatest work, while leaving out many, many more songs that are just as good.
10. Money (Dark Side of the Moon)
The funky bass tune in this song sets up a Pink Floyd song like no other. The quirky rhyming and lyrics may make the song seem a little more lighthearted then the rest of Dark Side, but don’t make that mistake. Gilmour sings, tongue in cheek, of the sad reality that money drives the vast majority of the decisions and actions of humans. This song successfully established the band’s presence in America, a huge turning point for them.
9. See Emily Play
Written by the original founder, Syd Barrett, See Emily Play encompasses Pink Floyd’s early stage. With its use of backwards tape and hop-scotching rhythms this track was a psychedelic masterpiece. The Emily mentioned in the song could have either been real or a hallucination in the context- the fact that it is unknown adds more to the song’s mystery.
8. Happiest Days of Our Lives/Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 2 (The Wall)
“We don’t need no education” has become one of the most recognizable lines from the Pink Floyd catalog, and many think this song is an anti-intellectual anthem. But as it’s in The Wall, it’s a part of Water’s childhood story where he was tormented by his teachers. Waters insults how the teachers stand rigidly by their doctrines and form apathetic, indistinctive students. It also features a blistering guitar solo from Gilmour, which takes the song into it’s fade out.
7. Us and Them (Dark Side of the Moon)
Dark Side of the Moon dealt with a different problem of the human condition in each of its songs, and Us and Them deals with the actions and consequences of war. The song’s set up is brilliant, as it starts off as a slow, spacey tune and builds up to loud, ringing middle sections that are meant to resemble the hectic and dangerous nature of battle. The philosophical lyrics search for a meaning to why this all occurs while the smooth saxophone interludes weave in and out, making this song the airy and calm centerpiece of Dark Side.
6. Echoes (Meddle)
This earlier Pink Floyd suite boasted just how good the band could be after the death of Syd Barrett- and how much potential they had. Standing at 23 minutes and 31 seconds, it is still only the third longest song in the Pink Floyd catalogue behind Atom Heart Mother and Shine On You Crazy Diamond. It has all the classic makings of a great Pink Floyd song: the grand scale, Water’s questioning and philosophical lyrics and a recognizable guitar riff (which many claim Andrew Lloyd Webber stole to use in The Phantom of the Opera).
5. Dogs (Animals)
The album Animals starts off with Waters’ soft Pigs on the Wing Pt. 1 and immediately launches into this seventeen minute masterpiece. The three middle songs on the album are known for their length and amazing guitar work from Gilmour, but this song’s long solos blows away everything else. The guitar work sets the tone for the telling of the cold business world, and according to Waters, the dogs are the cutthroat people who will do anything to get what they want.
4. Comfortably Numb (The Wall)
It’s strange to think that in an album that had Roger Waters written all over, the melody to it’s best and most recognizable song was composed by David Gilmour. By this time, Waters had taken control and he exercises it poignantly in The Wall. Comfortably Numb boasts credits to the songwriting pair that had once worked better together, and needless to say, its production came with endless conflict. Gilmour wanted the verses to be ‘harder’, but was overruled by Waters, who had the last say. But while the Waters’ lyrics are otherworldly and unforgettable, this song is remembered for Gilmour’s beautiful deliverance of the chorus and his searing guitar solo, which some would argue is the best in the band’s catalog. Below is a video from 2011 (Live at the O2) where Waters surprised the entire audience by bringing out David Gilmour for Comfortably Numb. He took his spot on the top of the wall like he did so many years ago.
3. Time (Dark Side of the Moon)
Time contains possibly the best lyrics the band has ever produced, which is why it’s ranked so high. More like poetry than an actual song, it touches on a fear that everyone has: time will run out. It describes a hectic life where no one was able to get anything done, and realization comes only when it is too late. After the loud opening of clocks and alarms, regret and need for a second chance drive this song forward. There are too many memorable lyrical lines in Time, but one of the most profound and affecting refers to the unstoppable passage of time: “No one told you when to run / You missed the starting gun.” The song closes out with a rendition of “Breathe”, a short and haunting closing.
2. Wish You Were Here (Wish You Were Here)
The top two songs are both the band’s tributes to it’s late founder Syd Barrett. Wish You Were Here, the title track of the album, it Water’s moving, fragile ode to him. Acoustic guitar is the featured instrument throughout most of the song, giving it a more personal, down to earth feel that some other songs seem to be missing. The haunting lyrics are one of the most weighty that the band has ever written, and this tribute to Syd Barrett encompasses the fear of alienation and leaving people behind.
1. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Wish You Were Here)
Like Wish You Were Here, Shine On You Crazy Diamond is a tribute to Barrett, one that the band as a whole worked on. What they produced was a twenty-six minute long, nine part suite that came to define the band. From the beginning four minute guitar intro to the build up towards the main chorus, its bittersweet and regret-filled lyrics to the constant change of pace, this song undoubtedly stands as Pink Floyd’s masterpiece. During the production of this song, Barrett actually turned up at the recording studio. Due to his dramatic change in appearance, none of the members recognized him at first. When they finally realized it was Barrett, Waters was reportedly reduced to tears. This eerily inexplicable event seems befitting of the song as colossal and grand as Shine On.
Honorable Mentions:
Have a Cigar (Wish You Were Here)
Mother (The Wall)
Careful With That Axe, Eugene (Ummagumma)
Hey You (The Wall)
Brain Damage/Eclipse (Dark Side of the Moon)
Coming Back to Life (Division Bell)
Waiting for the Worms (The Wall)
What are your favorite Pink Floyd songs? Which ones do you think should have been on the list? Let us know below.
Restoring the Rock 